Fiber-cement siding is increasing in popularity for residential and light commercial applications due to its lower cost and lower maintenance than traditional wood siding. Fiber-cement siding panels are composed of cement, sand and cellulose fibers and generally are manufactured in 5¼ to 12 inch widths and are about 5/15 inches thick. Similarly to wood siding, fiber-cement siding is installed onto a building structure over exterior wall sheathing.
In typical residential building construction, a foundation is laid, and on top of that a sill plate, usually a 2×4, is attached. Wall studs are then framed above the sill plate. Typically, the wall studs are covered with a sheathing, such as plywood, OSB, builder board, foam-type sheathing, or other comparable sheathing materials. On the exterior of the sheathing, a wall covering, such as siding or shingles, is installed to produce a finished appearance. Often the siding is horizontally aligned on the building structure. Where individual siding panels are employed, such as wood panels or the above described fiber-cement siding panels, they are generally installed from the bottom of the building structure upwards in an overlapping manner. In order to properly align the panels on the building structure, a chalk line is snapped to establish a straight reference line. The chalk line guides the positioning of a starter strip, which will in turn guide the vertical position and the angle of the siding panels. Typically, the starter strip is a 1½″ inch wide and ¼″ to 5/16″ thick strip of fiber cement, wood, or vinyl, which is positioned towards the bottom of the sheathing so that the bottom edge of the lowermost siding panel will project at least ⅛″ below the bottom edge of the starter strip when installed on the building structure.
Often the sill plate and sheathing are exposed to moisture and insects around the area of the foundation. This is because water draining downwardly from the siding panels, water from blowing rain, and water splashing upwardly from the ground can come into contact with exposed regions of the sheathing and sill plate behind the lowermost siding panel and starter strip. This exposure to moisture and insects may cause rotting or other undesirable structural damage to the sheathing and sill plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,095 to Tamlyn discloses starter strips designed to reduce exposure of the sill plate and/or sheathing panel to water. In one embodiment, the starter strip includes a bottom face which extends below the sill plate to protect the exposed sill plate from moisture. The starter strip also includes an angle face which is used as a pedestal to define the angular offset of the lowermost siding panel. In a second embodiment, the starter strip includes a back plate, a face plate normal to the back plate, and an angled remaining face. Upon installation of this starter strip, the back plate extends above and below the sill plate to protect the sill plate from moisture. The face plate covers the bottom edge of the sheathing panel to protect the bottom edge of the sheathing panel from exposure to moisture. The angled remaining face provides cosmetic trim. The first embodiment does not adequately set the proper vertical starting location for the lowermost siding panel, and the second embodiment is not employed in the installation of siding panels, but rather is employed for the protection of the sheathing panel and sill plate.
What is needed is an improved starter strip for the installation of siding panels.